清末的银贵钱贱与州县财政

Silver Appreciation and Copper Devaluation and County Finance in Late Qing

清代州县位卑而事繁,但政务经费却异常短绌。清代田赋征收中以银折钱的惯行,为州县弥补财政缺口留下制度空间;州县官利用银钱比价,满足了办公之需。时至晚清,中央和直省因赔款、兴学、练兵等而加强对州县余利的攘夺,加之清末州县财政职能的扩张,州县财政再度捉襟见肘。清末的银贵钱贱则给这种脆弱不堪的州县财政致命一击,致使州县赔累不堪。从各省的应对措施和国家的反应来看,清廷似乎无意将此严重问题置于清末财政改革的实践中一揽子解决。晚清财政改革的种种行径,明显是汲汲于统一财权,而对于财政与经济之源和流的关系、税源的培养等诸如此类的本质性问题,则明显认识不足。

In Qing Dynasty, the county was the most busy and humble regime, but government funding was very tight. Practice with silver folding money in land tax collection left system space for the county to make up the financial gap. The magistrate met the office needs with parity between silver and copper. In the late Qing , the central and provincial government＇ snatch of county revenue for compensation, training and strengthening of the state, and the expansion of the county fiscal functions, made the state county financial again poor. The silver appreciation and copper devaluation in late Qing gave the fragile county finance a fatal blow, the county met seri- ous difficulty. Viewed from the measures of provincial government and the national reaction, Qing government seemed to have no intention to solve this serious problem in the practice of financial reform. Reform of government fiscal practices of the late Qing was clearly trying to unify the fiscal power, such things as the relationship between finance and economy, the culture of tax sources, were obviously insufficiently understood.